exceptional care for children with cancer and blood disorders

Dayton Children’s is a special place for families who are dealing with a child’s diagnosis of cancer or a blood disorder. Our experienced team provides patients with exceptional medical care, and offers extensive support to their parents, grandparents and siblings. These families become part of our family as their children receive care over the course of several months or years.

Our care team is led by board-certified pediatric hematologists/oncologists, and includes nurses, a nurse practitioner, social worker, psychologist, dietitian and child life specialist. Other experts at Dayton Children’s — such as surgeons and genetics counselors— work with the team as needed to ensure that each child’s unique needs are met.

conditions we treat

cancer

Different kinds of cancer have different signs, symptoms, treatments, and outcomes, depending on the type of cell involved and how fast the cells grow. Depending on the type of cancer, treatment varies as well.

leukemia

The term leukemia refers to cancers of the white blood cells (also called leukocytes or WBCs). When someone has leukemia, large numbers of abnormal white blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. These abnormal white cells crowd the bone marrow and flood the bloodstream, but they cannot perform their proper role of protecting the body against disease because they are defective.

lymphoma

About 1,700 kids younger than 20 years old are diagnosed with lymphoma each year in the United States. Lymphomas are divided into two broad categories, depending on the appearance of their cancerous (malignant) cells. These are known as Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Together, they are the third most common type of cancer in children.

osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer, and accounts for about 3 percent of cancers that happen in children. Although other types of cancer can eventually spread to parts of the skeleton, osteosarcoma is one of the few that actually begin in bones and sometimes spread (or metastasize) elsewhere, usually to the lungs or other bones.

sickle cell disease

Usually, red blood cells are shaped like round discs. People who have sickle cell disease, though, have red blood cells that are shaped like sickles, or crescent moons. This defect can cause painful episodes, serious infections, chronic anemia, and damage to body organs.

thalassemia

Thalassemias are inherited conditions. People who are carriers of a thalassemia gene show no thalassemia symptoms and might not know they're carriers. If both parents are carriers, they can pass the disease to their kids. There are two types of thalassemias; alpha and beta. Signs, symptoms and treatment depend on the type.

anemia

Anemia, one of the more common blood disorders, occurs when the level of healthy red blood cells in the body becomes too low. This can lead to health problems because red blood cells contain hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to the body's tissues. Anemia can cause a variety of complications, including fatigue and stress on bodily organs.

hemophilia

Hemophilia is a disease that prevents blood from clotting properly. Clotting helps stop bleeding after a cut or injury. If clotting doesn't happen, a wound can bleed too much. Symptoms of hemophilia vary, depending on the amount of clotting factor a person has and the location of the bleeding.